Nice movement for a former Greek minister of finance to criticize Ireland for letting Apple have tax-game in order to expand its market because of a so-called barrier put by the EU to limit the US to gain more out of its one of the largest conglomerate in the 21st century. Despite of the fact that Greece gets an unbelievable free ride on the shoulders of other tax-payers in the EU, the author had no doubt to bring that out as it's been such an honor to do. Time for the EU to emerge with a bailout right on Greece's face.

Author's final paragraph fills me with sarcasm; "German bankers' free ride on the shoulders of Ireland’s taxpayers."...Many in EU feel Greece gets a free ride on EU taxpayers. .."prevented from preying on the weak?" Greece preyed upon the EU's weak due diligence in initially approving Greece as a creditworthy EU member. Greece now wants everybody to pay their fair share to the EU as we await the next debt forgiveness and bailout to Greece.

Prof Varoufakis, the economics elude me (i agree though that the broad point about austerity playing into the hands of xenophobic nationalists is true) but i think rhetoric barbs addressing the EU as "colonial usurpers" equally play into the hands of nationalists -- especially the "usurper", which connotes loss of national sovereignty as being undesirable. Actually such loss is good (for example, had it not been the case that the European Court of Human Rights interfered with our national sovereignty we wouldn't have legalized same-sex unions).

Isn't there some way for us internationalist/cosmopolitan progressives to chastise the EU (and i stay non-committal as to whether it deserves such chastisement, because as i said the economics elude me) in less self-defeating rhetoric?

Many thanks for the heads-up (as many as That Hound has, at least!). From my all-too-short work time in Greece (18 months) I'm still dealing with katharevousa, let alone any of several ancient dialects! But I found my spiritual home is in Greece (Evvia). Came as wonderful surprise - been looking for a while ...

@M M
It is true that we don't have enough psychometric research data on how corporatism is influencing psychology of the workforce. However, I suppose it is legal to have few hypotheses about the influence, isn’t it? After all, I did suggest the media method that would not only shed some light on the reach of the corporate prerogative, and would allow workforce to better differentiate its true political and evolutional interest, but would also be excellent method for collecting relevant data for class-dynamics researches.
To promote cognitive dissonance that “rule of the fittest” is another meaning for “who will be the dirtiest player”, is another way of forcing puritanism as a base for homogeneity or heterogeneity, which is alone by itself too provocative to have moral or ethical weight, not only because opposition to proclaimed puritanism gives far greater profit than accepting the proclaimed puritanism, but also because it creates unfounded assumption that membership hierarchy can sustain and maintain proclaimed puritanism.

I disagree I'm with Ireland on this one, assuming 6,000 jobs for a $13bn tax exemption was a good deal. Probably it wasn't, but that's Ireland's choice.

You say that EU member states shouldn't be allowed to have beggar-thy-neighbour tax policies. Why not? What about Luxembourg? What about Germany imposing a monetary policy that allows it to export to other members without allowing these other members to tax German companies' profits? The right response to this policy is to impose protectionist measures, either devaluation or tariffs, and that shows the union is already broken. Either fix it, or let Ireland solve its own problems.

"You say that EU member states shouldn't be allowed to have beggar-thy-neighbour tax policies. Why not?"

Firstly because it is grossly unfair; Ireland are not paying the €13bn, the exchequers of other countries are. Additionally, beggar thy neighbour policies are inherently unsustainable and encourage corporates to externalise their costs.

I agree with your other points re Germany etc. The problem is the EU is a rotten system and it cannot be reformed from inside.

Nobody sensible would disagree with the main points of this article, which although not directly backed up with references I know much of it to be true from other sources.

However, I do find the confused hypocrisy of lefties like Mr. Varoufakis somewhat tiring. It is clear that this kind of underhand tax competition (perpetrated by Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium) and the bullying of Greece, Ireland, Italy (no bank bailouts, which is going to become interesting) are merely a few of the many symptoms of a systemically rotten set of institutions.

Such is the level of groupthink on the left that people like Mr. Varoufakis see, understand and bristle at the ugliness of the parts but simply refuse to see the whole that is in front of their eyes.

If the DiEM25 movement is to have any traction it will need to genuinely threaten the EU with dissolution, otherwise it is just more noise and moaning from inconsequential lefties (rather like the Labour Party has become in Britain).

@M M
I guess that applying “the rule of the fittest” as “who will be dirtiest player” kind of competition is the essential cognitive dissonance. That lack of constructive norms that allows this cognitive dissonance to be viable is also responsible for maintaining and amassing workforce as a pack of slaves.
Such workforce doesn’t need to have constructive life vision or life mission; where they homogeneous or heterogeneous group, that cognitive dissonance denies any kind of norming of the social norm.
How to maintain and sustain constructive set of consistent rules throughout whole field of homogeneous and heterogeneous social interaction, without using puritanism (for what is puritanism, just type in google: puritanism meaning) as the basis for either homogeneity or heterogeneity, is the question.
Why not try with a great big conference in a great big hall, where representatives of the corporations and representatives of the governments will meet, like a EU summits, but with a live picture and sound transmission, with many live channels, many clear topics, many clear statements in many clear forums.

Yanis, back in June 2015, Paul Mason of Channel 4news and myself on PS exposed the Irish “Incentive Schemes” when you wrote your essay on the German Queen. The tax incentives that Ireland and other EU states have granted to some corporations (which the EU now wants to claw back in order to save the German banks, yet again) have been known for a very long time, especially for people that are in the know! This “Tit for Tat” vendetta (using the judiciary in one country to fine or penalise a corporation or the bank of another country in order to repatriate (launder) money) had started by the intelligent “Comedian-In-Chief”. The world has been in the midst of wars (financial, political, military, etc. just name it), since 2009. The EU Commission is right to ask Ireland to rectify the situation with Apple and with other corporations, if needs be. Times have changed since the 90s’ and Apple would not have grown and outpaced other corporations if it was not for all this “Indirect Funding”. Many corporations have become financially much stronger than many countries. This just cannot continue and is neither fair nor right. This “Inequality” in treatment, whereby one state within the EU offers better fiscal / funding terms than others to X or Y, has got to stop and this non-sense of the “Comedian-In-Chief” must stop as well (luckily he has only very few weeks left in office). If the leadership of Greece, and I personally have the greatest respect and sympathy to the people of Greece and to Greece itself but none to the leadership, they should have been the first at introducing such schemes in Greece in order to attract investors. I myself gave several examples on PS, one of them was about A. Papandreou who back in the 80s’ offered tax incentives to companies willing to set up business and invest in Greece (Law 89 is one of them). You mentioned Ireland, how about Bulgaria that has taken most businesses from Greece due also to their accommodating laws and tax regimes. In this world it is the rule of the fittest and not only with the look or words but with real and true actions. Yanis, back in June 2015, Paul Mason of Channel 4news and myself on PS exposed the Irish “Incentive Schemes” when you wrote your essay on the German Queen. The tax incentives that Ireland and other EU states have granted to some corporations (which the EU now wants to claw back in order to save the German banks, yet again) have been known for a very long time, especially for people that are in the know! This “Tit for Tat” vendetta (using the judiciary in one country to fine or penalise a corporation or the bank of another country in order to repatriate (launder) money) had started by the intelligent “Comedian-In-Chief”. The world has been in the midst of wars (financial, political, military, etc. just name it), since 2009. The EU Commission is right to ask Ireland to rectify the situation with Apple and with other corporations, if needs be. Times have changed since the 90s’ and Apple would not have grown and outpaced other corporations if it was not for all this “Indirect Funding”. Many corporations have become financially much stronger than many countries. This just cannot continue and is neither fair nor right. This “Inequality” in treatment, whereby one state within the EU offers better fiscal / funding terms than others to X or Y, has got to stop and this non-sense of the “Comedian-In-Chief” must stop as well (luckily he has only very few weeks left in office). If the leadership of Greece, and I personally have the greatest respect and sympathy to the people of Greece and to Greece itself but none to the leadership, they should have been the first at introducing such schemes in Greece in order to attract investors. I myself gave several examples on PS, one of them was about A. Papandreou who back in the 80s’ offered tax incentives to companies willing to set up business and invest in Greece (Law 89 is one of them). You mentioned Ireland, how about Bulgaria that has taken most businesses from Greece due also to their accommodating laws and tax regimes. In this world it is the rule of the fittest and not only with the look or words but with real and true actions.

Very interesting article - thank you. what puzzles me is that if the arrangement between Ireland and Apple was against EU law and practice at the time it was entered into, the relevant bits of the EU bureaucracy didn't protest loudly and vehemently at the time- for exactly the reason you give; 'One rule to bring them all, and in the darkness, bind them'. (Apologies to JRR Tolkein.)

Not that I'm challenging you point, καθηγητής! If you don't know your way around those regulations, nobody does! But still - what took so long to wake Κέρβερος?

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